God's servants working together

by Tim Harvey

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I would not have wanted to serve as pastor
of the church in Corinth. What an absolute
mess. Sexual immorality, lawsuits among believers,
the wealthy ignoring the needs of the poor, and chaotic
worship services were regular features of this congregation.
The pastoral leadership certainly
had their hands full.

And yet, this is the same congregation
that regularly experienced
the spiritual gifts of tongues and
prophecy, was eager to learn more
about heaven, and was willing to
share in a weekly offering for the
Jerusalem church. Despite deep
division, there is no talk of a congregational
split. Among all of the
problems, the Holy Spirit is moving.

The ultimate interpretation of the Corinthian Congregational
Profile depends on whether one sees the potential of
a bright future for mission and ministry or problems to be
avoided at all costs.

Many say similar things about the Church of the Brethren.
Some are upset at our inability to finally say how we
will relate to gay and lesbian sisters and brothers. Some
complain about biblical interpretation, and our famous (or
notorious) “two column” paper of 1979. But others happily
point to the peace witness we maintain in an increasingly
violent world. Several churches in the Great Lakes region of
Africa recently chose to join the global Brethren movement
because of this very witness.

As real as the problems and possibilities are, I want to
raise a different issue that is causing us difficulty. Somewhere
along the way, we stopped believing that we need
one another.

The Corinthians were at a similar place. When their disagreements
on Christian doctrine and ethics were keeping
them apart, Paul reminded them that they are “God’s servants,
working together” (1 Corinthians 3:9) before they are
anything else. This is not to say that there weren’t problems
in this congregation—the rest of the letter deals with that.
But Paul’s instruction and admonition is based on this fact.

In her book Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden
Forces That Keep Us Apart, Christena Cleveland describes
many subtle forces that cause us to be drawn to people who
are like us while avoiding those who are different. Part
of what drives this behavior is that “over the last century,
Western moral standards have drifted further away from
traditional Christian and biblical standards” (p. 108).

One way we respond to differences of opinion is to identify
those people who think, believe, and act like us. If this
were as far as things went, there would likely be few problems.
But our fallen human nature won’t allow us to stop
there. Having identified “our” group, we naturally begin
to note those people who are in the “other” group. Those
individuals are then held up for correction and ridicule, and
are to be avoided at all costs.

None of this is surprising. But the part of Dr. Cleveland’s
argument that describes the Brethren so well is her analysis
that “one possible sign that you have succumbed to self-esteem
and identity-fueled divisions is that you’re unwilling
to admit that they have something valuable to teach you”
(p. 111). In other words, when we stop believing that we
need one another, we have a serious problem.

The entrenchment in our own beliefs and lack of
patience for the “other” that has existed among the Brethren
for years has only deepened in the months since the
presidential election. That is especially worrisome as we
approach what may be another contentious Annual Conference.
We would do well to remember Paul’s counsel to the
Corinthians: We are “God’s servants, working together,”
before we are conservative or progressive.

We have not yet realized that, while we do have significant
theological differences on substantive matters, any
positive mission and ministry will require the contributions,
gifts, experiences, and perspectives of each one of us.
Like the imaginary “Congregational Profile” of the church
in Corinth, we have a decision to make about ourselves:
Are our current challenges and opportunities a source
for a positive future, or are they (and the Christians they
represent) problems to be avoided at all costs? The answer
to that question may be more significant than we have yet
wanted to admit.

Tim Harvey is pastor of Oak Grove Church of the Brethren in Roanoke, Va. He was moderator of the 2012 Annual Conference.